Ark. Officer to be Reprimanded After Car Shooting

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas police officer who twice frisked a man who authorities say subsequently shot himself to death while handcuffed in a patrol car has returned to active duty but must undergo more training and face an official reprimand.

Jonesboro Police Chief Michael Yates said Tuesday that an internal investigation found Officer Ron Marsh didn't conduct a thorough enough search of 21-year-old Chavis Carter before Carter's July 28 shooting death. An autopsy determined that Carter shot himself in the head. His family and activists have demanded more answers.

Marsh and another officer who stopped the truck in which Carter was a passenger that day were placed on paid administrative leave soon after the shooting, but Yates said they have returned to work.

Marsh didn't immediately return a message left at the police department.

Police said the two searches of Carter turned up a small amount of marijuana but no gun. Questions about race have cropped up, too, because Carter was black and police have said Marsh and the other officer involved are white.

Benjamin Irwin, a Memphis, Tenn., lawyer representing Carter's family said he found it troubling that Marsh was returning to work so soon.

The internal investigation found no wrongdoing on the part of the other officer, Keith Baggett, Yates said.